The ‘Gaza genocide’ claim is a blood libel, says historian Simon Schama

In his recent keynote address to the Holocaust Educational Trust annual dinner, well-known historian Simon Schama denounced the allegations of genocide directed at the Israeli government and armed forces as a ‘blood libel.’ This term is specific to Jewish history, and refers to medieval Christian slanders directed against Jews by the highest echelons of Christian society: Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox. “We, the victims of the greatest genocide the world has ever seen, are being called perpetrators of genocide,” he said. “His blood be on us and our children” is a famous line from the New Testament in Matthew 27:25; referring to a Jewish crowd demanding the crucifixion of Jesus. This was the original blood libel, since then used to stoke anti Jewish sentiment; and also repudiated by many Christian theologians. But it is a clear invocation of the noxious doctries of collective guilt, as also the inter-generational transfer of guilt.

It sounds as though Schama believes that the genocide of European Jewry by the Nazis has given the Israeli state the right to wipe out the Palestinian people (he forgot to mention the Romani and Sinti peoples, also victims of genocide).

Or perhaps he is responding to the documentary named NAZA

Schama is a historian, and his use of religious formulae such as blood libel to attack people of conscience who are raising their voices against the worst massacre in decades is uncalled for. The accusations of genocide being directed against Israel today are being raised in secular fora, by non-Jews and Jews (including Israelis) alike. They include retired IDF officers, who speak of Jewish terrorism and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Schama must know that history did not begin on October 7, 2023

Since he also used ‘genocide‘ in his address, let us see how the UN Convention of December 9, 1948 defined it:

United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: Note Article 2: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part…

Israel’s Minister of national security Ben Gvir circulates concocted reels about Palesinians every bit as horrific as the antisemitic slogans in the Western world; Defence Minister Israel Katz lobbies Donald Trump for support for a plan of mass removal of Palestinians from Gaza; and in the first year of the war, Netanyahu reminded Joe Biden of the US use of atmomic bombs on Japan in WW2. Was he not referring to the mass slaughter of civilians?

An American Congressman openly called for genocide – as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki – get it over with quick, he suggested. Has Schama noticed all this?

Two Israeli co-directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have recently received accolades for their documentary about Palestinian civilians killed in the Gaza war: would Schama say they too are resorting to the ‘blood libel’?

Israeli army has killed 235 children in West Bank since 7 October 2023 without a single indictment in what rights groups call a ‘licence to kill’… According to the Gaza Health MInistry, 73,789 Palestinians have been killed (21,000 of them children) since October 2023. This figure does not include those missing and buried beneath the rubble, which will raise the figure of dead alone to far beyond 100,000 – on Septermber 16, 2026, the United Nations human rights agency warned that recent discoveries of thousands of bodies recovered from rubble of Gaza may be the ‘tip of the iceberg’. These are predominantly of women and children, and could constitute war crimes.

In September 2025, former Israeli army commander Herzi Halevi confirmed that more than 200,000 Palestinians had been killed or injured in the war in Gaza, and that not once during the conflict were military operations inhibited by legal advice. In the West Bank, military rules of engagements have been loosened and impunity is the norm.

So, Professor Schama: in the face of a mountain of evidence on what transpired – and is ongoing – in Gaza and the West Bank, what do you propose we name it? Over 20 thousand children killed, the largest number of maimed children in the world, thousands of orphans; lives of countless families ruined forever, what vocabulary do you suggest? Collateral damage? Massacre in self-defence? Why not visit Gaza, Professor and see for yourself? Or else, forget the terminology. Suspend judgment and watch the recorded evidence presented by two brave Israeli film-makers

A rare warning about Jewish terrorism, and how Israel’s response to ‘NAZA’ drew more attention than the film did

Gaza Doc ‘NAZA,’ From ‘No Other Land’ Directors, earn record-breaking 24.5 minute Venice Ovation

Thanks to ‘NAZA’ Hysteria, Israel Is Finally Talking About Gaza

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The retired generals sounding the alarm over the West Bank

The End of Liberalism

‘We took the gloves off’: ex-IDF chief confirms Gaza casualties over 200,000. By now, 321 Palestinians PER DAY have been killed or wounded

US Congressman calls for Gaza genocide: ‘like Nagasaki and Hiroshima: Get it over Quick’

‘If we don’t act on the proof against Israel, we can’t redeem ourselves’: Justice Muralidhar

‘Is it Israel’s aim to kill our children?’ West Bank parents implore end to IDF’s child killings with impunity

Biblical Archaeology and the Judeo-Christian legends / The Deconstruction of the Walls of Jericho

Zionism Breaks

Tearing up the Map